Zoology

STOP

Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in the World

This article is one of nearly 500,000 scholarly works digitized and made freely available to everyone in
the world by JSTOR.

Known as the Early Journal Content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other
writings published in more than 200 of the oldest leading academic journals. The works date from the
mid-seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries.

We encourage people to read and share the Early Journal Content openly and to tell others that this
resource exists. People may post this content online or redistribute in any way for non-commercial
purposes.

Read more about Early Journal Content at http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/individuals/early-
journal-content .

JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary source objects. JSTOR helps people
discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching
platform, and preserves this content for future generations. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit
organization that also includes Ithaka S+R and Portico. For more information about JSTOR, please
contact support@jstor.org.

374 BOTANY. ZOOLOGY.

pecuniary outlay in the production. The work is a gift to bryolog-
ical science by one of its most distinguished cultivators, who,
fortunately, was blessed with the means which enabled him to
bestow it. He accordingly fixed a price much below the cost, so
as to bring the work fairly within the reach of students who may
desire it. This policy will still be adhered to for a sufficient time
to enable those in this country who need the work to obtain it
advantageously. For the present the price of the original volume
will be $14.00 ; of the supplement $10.00 ; of the two together,
$24.00. It is supplied by the American Naturalists' Agency, as
well as by Charles W. Sever, Cambridge, Mass., by Westermann
& Co., New York, and by Trubner & Co., London. — Asa Gray.

BOTANY.

Introduction of Ulex eurOp^eus in the Bermudas. — In the
winter of 1872-3, 1 sowed English seed of this shrub in my garden,
and a few healthy plants were produced in the course of twelve
weeks or so. Leaving for the north for the summer months, I
thought it best, to insure their safety, to present them to His
Excellency the Governor, Major General Lefroy, whose endeavors
to introduce new forms of vegetation into the islands are widely
known and appreciated. The plants died during the summer.
More seeds were then sown in Government House garden and
came up well, and being transplanted into favorable positions,
throve beyond expectation, and in February last I had the pleas-
ure of seeing several plants, arranged as a thicket on a north-
western slope, in blossom. Still, I was somewhat skeptical re-
garding the ultimate result, knowing that this form refuses to
grow farther south than the latitude of 42° in the eastern hemis-
phere, but much to my satisfaction the legumes duly formed, and
the seeds became fully ripe at the beginning of this month, so that
the plant may now be said to be naturalized in these islands. — J.
Matthew Jones, the Hermitage, Bermudas, May 12, 1875.

ZOOLOGY.

Mr, Gentry's paper on Fertilization through Insect
Agency. — It is to be regretted that this interesting paper fails
just where it might be of scientific value. If Mr. Gentry, who,
by the context of the article evidently anticipated cross fertiliza-
tion, had enclosed a few female flowers in gauze bags, and self

GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 375

fertilized them, the case of Cucurbita oviferd would have been
complete, and in Wistaria how easy to take pollen from some ma-
ture flowers and impregnate the younger ones. It is tantalizing
to be put off with "incontrovertible" inferences and suggestions,
when the material for actual proof was so near at hand. —
T. Meehan.

Colorado Potato Beetle destroyed by the Rose-breasted
Grosbeak. — I noticed last summer that great numbers of the Col-
orado potato beetle were destroyed by the Rose-breasted grosbeak,
Goniaphea Ludoviciana.

The farmers hold these birds in great favor, and are very care-
ful to prevent their destruction. They were so abundant in this
region last summer as to hold in check the vast army of these
ravagers of the potato crop. — W. F. Bundy, Jefferson, Wis., Feb.
25, 1875.

The Umbellula. — A monograph of the genus has just been
received from Mr. Lindahl, published in the Swedish Transactions.
These polypes are sea pens, with a remarkably long stalk, attaining
the length of two or three feet. The species are of great rarity,
occurring at great depths off Spitzsbergen, Baffin's Bay, North
Greenland, and off Cape Finisterre. A second genus, Crinillum,
occurred in Banka Sea.

Cigars Destroyed by Insects. — The disciples of Mr. Trask
will be glad to know that " the weed " is devoured by three kinds
of insects, and thus rendered unfit for the use of man. In a collec-
tion found by a friend in a lot of cigars, which they had ruined,
Dr. Horn enumerates three beetles: Gatorama simplex, Xyloteresf
and Calandra oryzce.

GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY.

The Sand Dunes of the San Luis Valley. — On our homeward
march while in the service of the U. S. Geological Survey (Dr. F.
V. Hayden's) during the summer of 1874, we passed close to the
well-known "sandhills" of the San Luis Valley lying at the base
of the Sangre de Christo Range opposite Musca Pass. They con-
sist of a range of angular dunes extending in horse-shoe form for
some ten miles, the central points of which will average over
seven hundred feet in height, making a very prominent object